Safe to buy $500 walmart gift cards off of ebay?

[Techie333]

I was thinking about this, but is it really safe? What if somebody tries to scam me outa $500!?!??! :Q

 

[Dissipate]

Check their feedback rating of course. Also, do you get any kind of discount on those cards or do they basically go for $500?

 

[psydancerqt]

why would you wanna buy that from ebay?

 

[Dissipate]

BTW, I bought something for $1,100 off eBay before no problem. Also, just now I won an auction for an item for $230. Never been scammed...yet.

 

[Nocturnal]

Check their ebay rating. If it's got enough with hardly any negatives or no negatives within the past few months then I'd say yes. I'd wait until a few of the auctions are done (if he/she is selling more than one to see if anyone leaves negative feedback, it might be a hi-jacked ebay account).

 

[ChefJoe]

Safe and Ebay... two words that don't belong together.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

I wouldn't. I'd got to hot deals and get $100 target GC's for about $70 shipped

 

[AnyMal]

Originally posted by: Techie333
I was thinking about this, but is it really safe? What if somebody tries to scam me outa $500!?!??! :Q

How much of a discount are you getting?

 

[rival]

i doubt they've been activated...probably stolen at the register...

 

[Freejack2]

Just don't be like some these ebayers and bid like $550 on a $500 gift card or buy a used radar detector for $10 more than it goes for new.

 

[Thegonagle]

Originally posted by: rival
i doubt they've been activated...probably stolen at the register...

That's entirely possible. I wouldn't bother. Keep your $500 safe. You face a potentially huge hassle if there's any problem.

 

[sciencewhiz]

If they go for less then $500, its a scam. If they go for more then $500, why buy them.

It's lose lose.

 

[vegetation]

Originally posted by: Freejack2
Just don't be like some these ebayers and bid like $550 on a $500 gift card or buy a used radar detector for $10 more than it goes for new.

Those type of bidders never end up paying for anything so it's the seller who loses out, not the bidder. There are lots of psychotic ebayers but most of them just intentionally ruin auctions instead of actually wanting to buy something.

 

[Dissipate]

Originally posted by: sciencewhiz
If they go for less then $500, its a scam. If they go for more then $500, why buy them.

It's lose lose.

I did a search for gift cards on eBay. A TON of different cards came up and all of the ones I saw were going for less than the face value of the card. Its safe to say that not all of these are scams.

Think about it. Someone gets a gift card for lets say Macy's for their birthday but they don't like Macy's, they want cash instead. They just go on eBay and sell the card for a little less than its face value. Its not a conspiracy.

 

[rufruf44]

The Walmart's GC is going for 85-90c for the dollar. Bad thing is most of them you won't get until 4 weeks of the end of auction (put you in even more disadvantage if they don't deliver). I think most of this seller buy it at discount using some type of membership, resell at ebay & pocket the difference & interest for the 4 weeks period.

 

[Pliablemoose]

Why are some of the auctions stating they'll ship 4 weeks after the end of the auction?

 

[NeoPTLD]

How much is the face value of the card you're purchasing and how much are you going to pay?

 

[kranky]

Originally posted by: Pliablemoose
Why are some of the auctions stating they'll ship 4 weeks after the end of the auction?

I asked the very same question on another board. Turns out there are some programs out there (like Essentials, Shoppers' Advantage, etc.) which let members buy gift cards at a discount. Apparently people join the program, and during the intro period they stock up on gift cards, then cancel. I guess they don't want to go through the hassle until they know they have resold the gift card.

Seems like a lot of aggravation for the seller to go through just to make about $5-10.

 

[gittyup]

For me, $500 is a lot of money to risk on ebay.

 

[MrBond]

I thought the deal with this is that people steal a CC number, buy a ton of gift cards and sell them. By the time the 4 weeks are up, the CC is flagged as stolen and the gift cards are invalidated?

Either way, it seems kind of dangerous to me.

 

[omega2]

I don't see why gift card would be a problem. As long as you check out their feedback rating, then it should be safe. I mean I have sold movie theatre gift cerifitcate before, because I don't really watch much move in the theatre. I mostly rent movies, because of the DVD extras you get.

 

[rudder]

Originally posted by: omega2
I don't see why gift card would be a problem. As long as you check out their feedback rating, then it should be safe.

a feedback rating does not mean squat. I could easily sell a 100 beanie babies on ebay and ship them out promptly. Then I can put up a scam auction selling walmart gift cards. All those fools will look at my 100 entries of "A+++ seller" and send me $500 X 10.

 

[xSauronx]

Originally posted by: rudder

Originally posted by: omega2
I don't see why gift card would be a problem. As long as you check out their feedback rating, then it should be safe.

a feedback rating does not mean squat. I could easily sell a 100 beanie babies on ebay and ship them out promptly. Then I can put up a scam auction selling walmart gift cards. All those fools will look at my 100 entries of "A+++ seller" and send me $500 X 10.

*never buy from rudder*